Inspired by my gnomes...
Was busy clearing and weeding behind the pond, when I had a brainwave concerning the pond paths. The water-side path was really the only one I used regularly. It passed by the gnomes - reading, fishing, lounging about, sitting on toadstools, digging, contemplating daisies, and riding their snails. And other assorted gnomish activities.
Clubs for Gnomes
The path at the back was always getting messy, and I hardly ever used it - apart from cleaning it up. It passed by the white wire seat, around which the Working Gnomes Club gathered for their weekly lectures. The path had been covered with dead branches, gum bark, and general mess for so long that the guest lecturer (me) hadn't been bothering to turn up. Oops.
Feedback, please...
I asked the chaps in the Working Gnomes Club for their feedback. They admitted that the lack of stimulating speakers was taking its toll (some gnomes were getting bored leaning on their shovels) but the location was nicely near the water, and they didn't want to move. The solution came to me then and there. I would build a new wee path from the water to the white seat, and decommission the back path.
New Path to the White Wire Seat
So that's what I did. I shifted stones, and raked up mess. I built the new little path. Took a wee while, but it's done, and I'm happy. Be guided by the needs of your gnomes. Ask them what they think, and let them inspire you.
Gnome Stragglers
Perfect path
The new path route is perfect. The gardener passes by the Reading Stump, moves in a gentle curve down to the the water, glides silently past Fishing Club and the water lilies, then comes to a fork.
If she's feeling lazy she can deftly bypass the little path to the white wire seat, and make her way past the stragglers (anti-social gnomes who don't want to join any of the clubs) and out through the garden to the Ram Paddock fence-line.
Oops...
The back path is blocked off, though a wheelbarrow full of weeds and mess could push its way through - if it needed to. Just one tiny oops - in the process I lost my little hand scraper. The gnomes have promised they'll keep an eye out for it.